Haunted
by Zerodone
Summary: Summer Rose should be dead, right? So why did she find herself staring at her own...oh. OH. She's a ghost. AWESOME!...right?
1. Chapter 1

"So...that's a thing. Apparently," were the first actual words which left Summer's mouth, ever since she...woke up? She guessed that was the best way of putting it, given the rather peculiar situation she found herself in. Namely, she was staring right at her own gravestone. This alone would lead most people into a panicked state. Oh and panic she did. At first, there was obviously confusion when the woman found herself laying in the grass with the sun shining down her face. She thought she had gone into the afterlife because the last memory she had was of a certain bitch finally oh so graciously finishing her off after weeks of torture. Those memories alone would drive any person insane and indeed, for a while Summer had curled up in a ball and whimpered like a little girl waking up from a nightmare. And what a nightmare it had been.

Luckily the sound of birds singing and actual sunlight did wonders to the woman's psyche and allowed her to recover rather quickly if two hours can be called quick under any circumstances. It wasn't meant to last.

As soon as Summer got back on her two feet and managed to take an actual look at her surroundings, her gaze inadvertently fell upon the gravestone in front of which she woke up. The first thing she noted was that it was well cared for with dead flowers in front of it, meaning someone visited it the past days. Someone must really miss this person were her thoughts. Then she noticed the symbol on the gravestone. Okay, it kinda looked like hers, but roses were kind of a universal pattern used by pretty much….oh. That was her name on the rock.

Needless to say, all hell broke lose. Just imagine yourself suddenly stumbling over your own gravestone, the amount of dread one must feel. Oh, but it got worse. How may you ask? Well, Summer's reaction was to put in simple terms lashing out at everyone and everything nearby. Since somehow no Grimm had approached her location, a miracle given the amount of negative emotions she was radiating, the woman tried to punch a nearby tree, having every intent of ending its existence. The thing was, her fist didn't connect to the bark. It went straight through the bark. The velocity alone caused Summer to stumble forward, her entire body going right through the wood.

After catching her footing, Summer held up her arms and took a good look at them. For some reason the hunter's outfit she wore was undamaged, but that wasn't what caught her attention. What did was the fact that she could see straight through the arm as if she was nothing more than a hologram. That's when the metaphorical meltdown happened. Oh how much she would have loved to tear the entire place apart, but alas she was reduced to screaming and wailing. Given that she's a ghost and as thus did no longer require air or food to "survive" this went on for two days straight. This can still be considered a short amount of time in light of recent circumstances.

Only slowly was Summer Rose able to calm down and when she did, she just kept staring at the grave in front of her for a couple of hours, until the first words left her...mouth? Incorporeal being? She could already feel a headache popping up and she was dead for fuck's sake. Something like that shouldn't even be possible. SHE shouldn't be possible.

"Okay, okay, Sum," she held up her arms. "You're dead. You knew you were going on a suicide mission and you know you were going to die the moment that bitch" she spat out the last two words "managed to capture you. Positive. Think positive. You're a ghost. What do you know about ghosts?"

The ghost of Summer titled her head, thinking. "They don't exist." she snapped her fingers, before frowning. "Wow, great job there, Sum. Okay, seriously. Think carefully. So you are something that's not supposed to be here, yet you are here. Don't think of the how think of what you can-"

Her mind came to a sudden halt. For a moment the woman just stood in place (why she wasn't falling through the solid ground was anyone's guess), as her mind went through a hard crash, followed by a drastic rebooting process. A picture slowly formed in her head, as was slowly but surely coming back online. A picture of her two little girls playing with one another, while she and Tai were sitting on the couch, carefully observing the children.

She could see her children! Of course! Why didn't she think of that earlier!?

"Bad Summer! Forgetting your children over something mundane as death!"

She slapped her own cheek, which apparently was still feasible despite everything else. But everything else wasn't important right now. What was important was that she got to her girls as soon as possible and….well, giving them a hug wouldn't be possible, but she was sure they would just as much appreciate seeing her again, as she would them.

Right, now that that was established, she needed to actually get a move on. The thing was, she had no idea where she was and walking on foot to her destination, whichever way it was laying, could take forever.

…

Now that she thought about it, time wasn't really an issue here, was it? With that on her mind, Summer spun around and walked into the direction opposite to her gravestone. The thing was creeping her out anyways.

As she walked through the "Woods of Wherever Where", Summer noticed something interesting, namely that she couldn't feel the warmth of the sun or the movements of the wind. Heck, it was actually a pretty windy day, but the only way for her to identify the wind was to look up to the crown of the woods and see the branches moving in the direction of wherever the wind was pushing them. It was a unique experience not being able to feel anything.

That wasn't correct either. Summer certainly wasn't cold and she could still feel her own clothes pressing against her skin and hair in the case of her hood. Not to mention, she could still touch herself, as if she had a body. The scientists of Atlas surely would have a field day with her. If they could catch her that is.

Given that woods are generally Grimm infested areas, it didn't take long for Summer to spot the first one. On instinct she hid behind a tree, only to find herself staring at something...brown.

"Right. Ghost. Can't exactly lean against things. Ground feels pretty solid though." she tentatively stomped on the dirt a few times. "Wait a minute." Realization suddenly dawned on her face. "Does that mean I can't touch Grimm and vice versa?"

There was only one way to find out and since she was already dead there was no real danger to her right?

As such Summer got (literally) out of her cover and casually approached the Beowulf as if it was just another person strolling through the woods. The creature happened to have its back turned to her, so in order to get its attention, Summer called out to her.

"Hey!" she shouted, but the Grimm didn't move.

"HEY!" she shouted again, this time louder. Instead of turning around, the creature did quite the opposite. It walked away from a few steps and when it came to a halt, it sniffed the air. Slightly annoyed of being ignored, Summer ran around the creature, so that they would be face to face.

"Hey, are you blind or something?!" she shouted, frantically waving the arms in front of it. When the wolf-like Grimm looked directly into her eyes, Summer was sure she finally got its attention. On instinct, she took a few steps back and grabbed for the weapon she didn't have with her anymore. While her non-existent brain was processing this information, the Beowulf continued on its way and walked straight through Summer, without noticing the presence of the dead woman. Said woman tensed up the moment her vision turned black until she could see the trees again.

Summer continued to stand in place for a couple of seconds until the Beowulf had almost disappeared in the woods. She turned around just to see the tail of the beast until it was gone from her vision range.

"It...didn't see me?"

It was a rhetorical question, of course, but it helped the ghost comprehend the situation.

"Does that mean...humans can't see me as well?"


	2. Chapter 2

She should have figured from the very start where she was, after all, apparently, they did manage to find her body and even give her a proper burial. But, you know, she was still wrapping her head around the fact that she was a ghost of all freaking things. Yet here she was, on the Island of Patch. Summer Rose had after who knows how many years returned home. It was just how she remembered it being: a small, two story high log cabin, with a small shed just a few meters away. The red color of the roof had become even duller than Summer remembered over the years and there were some leaves scattered on the porch. The woman still remembered how much of a pain it had been to built that part of the house. Let's just say that things didn't work out as planned and it quickly became an annoyance working on that thing. Summer would give her arm, in order to be able to do everything all over again.

Summer took in a deep breath...was there even air going somewhere? Distracted by the sudden thought process, Summer repeated the motion, trying not to think as to how her lungs were extending...crap, she did it.

Third time's the charm!

She took in a deep breath and exhaled it ever so slowly. It took her five minutes to actually stop the motion, because as mentioned earlier: ghosts do not need air.

So, fourth time's the charm? No, fifth actually. During the fourth Summer constantly reminded herself to stop after at least thirty seconds. Yeah, it took Summer Rose five times in order to pull off the most simple breathing exercise known to Faunus- and Mankind. But hey, no one could really blame her at this point.

"Okay Sum," the ghost-woman told herself, after finishing the exercise. "You know what to do. Just go in there and...and...and look for your family, damn it!" She stomped her foot. "Jeez, don't make this any harder for you than it already is! Just...get it together and go in there! Ah! So frustrating!"

Summer pulled off her hood and ruffled her hair, trying to get herself together. The last thing she wanted to do was spending another two days trying to get her thoughts together. One stunt like that had been more than enough.

Making her mind at least partially up, the ghost made her way into her old home, ignoring her aching, non-existing heart. She very hardly tried not to think as to how her incorporeal being was capable of feeling pain, even if it was through non-physical means because this entire situation made her head hurt already. The irony of this fact was not lost to the ghost.

As soon as Summer went through the wall, which was both weird and exciting at the same time, the feeling of nostalgia coursed through her ethereal body. From what she could see of the house, not much appeared to have changed, if anything at all. The couch in the living room was still the same, as well as the holo-TV and even the carpet. There was the bookshelf, which seemed to have acquired quite a bit of dust, not the explosive variety mind you. The photos hanging from the wall were the same too, the chimney, the dog bed, the dog…

Wait, hold up a second. A dog bed and...a dog? This was new.

Forgetting her nostalgia for a minute, Summer walked around the couch in order to get a better look at the sleeping dog inside the bed, which was placed next to the couch. She didn't recognize the race of this particular dog but noted that it was of the smaller variety and was colored in black and white. The woman was fascinated with the small creature inside her old home and bent down to her knees to watch it more closely.

She could now see the dog's chest slowly rising and falling and even make out individual strands of hair on the fur of the furry creature. The urge to pet the cute little doggie was almost overwhelming and only the fact that Summer had some bad experiences with other pets being rather aggressive towards her for some reason held the woman back. Cats in particular never seemed to like her, even though she only wanted to cuddle them.

Setting the topic of unruly pets aside, Summer made a mental note that her family apparently had gotten a pet some years ago. Or maybe months, after all, the dog did look like he could grow even bigger, though she might be mistaken. And since the family pet was at home, it either meant that somebody else was there too or that somebody would get home in time to let the dog out. Summer's chest felt like her heart was hammering against it, through the sheer excitement of seeing Taiyang, Qrow or one of her girls again.

She was barely able to continue her little exploration into the kitchen. Like the kitchen, it appeared almost like the day, when she last left her home. The stove, the shelves, the rug, the dining area...yup, all was the same. Heck, there was even the picture of Team STRQ hanging in the kitchen through a magnet. A pained smile appeared on the ghost woman's face when she approached the picture. She would have guessed Taiyang would have torn it to shreds after Summer's untimely death.

Raven...just thinking about her former partner left a bad taste in Summer's mouth. She loved the other woman like a sister she had never had, however, there were a lot of topics the two heavily disagreed upon. The last time the two had been facing to face with each other...it wasn't pretty. The result? Team STRQ disbanded, Raven left her biological daughter in Taiyang's care, said man had been broken and Qrow...it was best not to mention what he had to say to his sister.

Shaking her head, Summer tried to relieve herself of the images that threatened to appear on her mind. She could go and haunt her former partner on another date, namely after she had sorted things out with her family.

Leaving the kitchen, the woman slowly headed upstairs, NOT wondering how she managed to step on the stairs, instead of walking straight through them.

…

Too late.

Her head really started to hurt now. And no, she was not thinking about how she should not be able to feel pain and yet she-

She slapped herself across the face multiple times, in order to get her thoughts in line. Upstairs, she could see that the doors to every room were closed, probably to keep the dog out from making a mess. The first room she checked out was one of her two daughters. Now this place had completely changed.

Gone were all the toys, the plush toys, and the crayons. There were two beds (in the respective color for each girl), a wooden desk next to each, along with the chairs. Each girl had their own shelves. One had some books placed on it, the other Grimm figurines. There was a mirror placed opposite to the beds and underneath the mirror was another dog bed, indicating it was probably the girls' idea to get the dog. On that account, Summer could NOT see her reflection in the mirror. This left a pit in her metaphorical stomach as it indicated that she wasn't really "there", hence why the Grimm from earlier wasn't able to see her. The same most likely went for humans.

These thoughts terrified Summer in more ways than one because it would mean that not only would no one be able to see her, but she also would have no one to interact with. And loneliness was one of the few things Summer Rose was really afraid of, for a multitude of reasons.

She was broken out of her worries when she heard the dog from downstairs barking excitedly. Almost ten seconds later, she could hear the lock of the door being opened which was then followed by a voice, which caused ghostly butterflies to appear in Summer's stomach.

"Zwei! I'm home! Whoa! Hey! Down boy! I'm carrying a lot of stuff here!"

"He's here…" Summer mumbled to herself. Even though the words were muffled, she could understand everything and moreover she easily recognized the voice of her (and, by extent, Raven's) lover.

"Here goes nothing."


End file.
